Cleaver Of Sin

Chapter 1129: A Sense Of Direction

”Unfortunately, we can’t,” she stated, then proceeded to explain, ”I won’t bore you with how this training area works, but all I can say is that neither you nor I would be able to leave here for a week unless you gave another one of your daggers to another black woman we could teleport to,” she explained calmly.

Asher stayed silent for a moment, then nodded as he spoke, ”That makes sense.”

He understood that training facilities seemed to have their own unique features, and it seemed that Arianna’s possessed a time-period feature where, if they selected the amount of time they would train for, they had to train for that amount of time without leaving.

Although he didn’t know if this was the exact situation, it was the only explanation at the moment.

”Don’t worry, I can invite you again after a week, or we could just spar for a week straight,” Arianna stated calmly as she walked.

At Arianna’s words about sparring for a week straight, Asher’s lips twitched as he couldn’t help but remember those puppets from the Combat Refinement and Attunement Room. He had spent three weeks there and nearly died.

”I won’t be available after today,” he stated as he walked.

He had already planned to cultivate till Lyra returned, then, upon her return, they would leave the next day. Although he could stay here till tomorrow, he had already decided that he would only spend today resting and doing nothing in particular. Although he had said he might spend tomorrow also resting, it was best to start his cultivation tomorrow.

Arianna turned her amber-gold eyes towards him as she asked, ”Diving into another training after just coming out of an eight-month seclusion?” Her black eyebrows rose.

Asher gave a small smile as he shook his head and replied, ”Well, I plan to break through to the Flare sub-Life Rank, then I will be heading to a Frontier from there.”

Arianna stared at him for a moment, then nodded her head. She stayed silent for another moment, then spoke.

”Although the Velkarin Empire doesn’t have Frontiers and Outposts like your Zarethorne Empire, we have an established Military Force, and I plan to join.” Her tone was calm as she approached a jagged pillar and sat on the ground with her back against it.

Asher sat beside her as they both stared into the distance, the wind caressing her skin as their hair danced in the wind. They sat as though they were a perfect couple, as though they were both halves of a perfect whole, as though they completed each other in the truest sense.

”The Frontier could be considered a Military Force if one thought about it,” Asher replied as he sat, his purple eyes on the golden-painted sky. ”Besides, I thought that, like your Father, you would go around doing whatever you wanted and serving no one in particular,” he added.

Arianna shook her head. She lifted a handful of sand and watched the wind push the sand off her hand as she replied, ”Personally, I kind of like a sense of purpose and direction. Of course, I don’t mean saving the world or achieving equality amongst all Humans and all that.” She paused for a moment. ”A sense of direction and purpose is all, just a sense. It doesn’t have to be grand or fully painted out and all that,” she stated.

Asher didn’t speak. He kind of picked up that Arianna was saying that her Father seemed to have no purpose, as the man simply woke up, did whatever he wanted, and stayed undefeated in battle. He wasn’t called The Black Disaster for nothing.

Although he wanted to say something, he decided not to speak on it. Talking about people’s parents wasn’t his style. He might have joked about being richer than Azazel and Arianna combined, but that was a different matter.

’I wonder if she has ever considered that her Father’s purpose is protecting her and watching her grow,’ he thought to himself, but said nothing about it.

But he didn’t think too much about it, as no matter what world, Mothers were more celebrated than Fathers.

”How do the Frontiers and Outposts at the Zarethorne Empire work?” Arianna asked. ”I heard it’s just everyone possessing their own individual and personal force,” she stated without turning to him, as her amber-gold eyes were on a desert snake she had picked up. The snake bit her, but its fangs shattered upon contact.

As it hissed in pain, she threw it in another direction with gentle care.

Asher gave a small smile as he replied, ”First of all, a Frontier and an Outpost aren’t two separate things. They are the same thing, just like how one thing possesses two names,” he explained calmly, as Arianna seemed to misunderstand that. ”And personally, I choose to think of these Frontiers as how Knighthood functions. Each Noble Household possesses Knights that, if ordered, would attack the Emperor himself, so what difference does it make whether all Frontiers are personal forces or not?” He asked as he turned to her.

”Besides, at the Frontier, even if the Commander orders a coup or anything of the sort, soldiers can choose not to attack and simply leave the Frontier, but with Knighthood, you can’t. An order is an order, and you don’t get an opinion,” Asher stated in finality.

Arianna stayed silent for a moment as she thought about it. Asher’s words made sense to her. Knighthood was indeed much more personal compared to the Frontier, although the Outposts had more numbers, as commoners who didn’t want to serve any Noble or weren’t able to become Knights fed their families this way; by joining.

”It seems we would be meeting at the battlefield,” Arianna spoke as a smile appeared on her lips. She didn’t know Asher was joining the Frontier, and since he was joining, she only hoped they met as enemies and fought again.

Asher arched an eyebrow in confusion. ”We will be meeting at the battlefield?” He asked.

Arianna stared back at him in confusion, then it dawned on her that he probably didn’t know, so she smiled and replied.

”Why spoil the fun? You will understand later,” she stated with a smile, ”but it doesn’t matter. We might not meet if fate doesn’t want us to anyway,” she added.

Asher stayed silent, his eyes narrowing as he wondered if something had happened in the eight months he was stuck in seclusion. But as he was lost in thought, Arianna decided to ask a question that had been bugging her since she and Asher met for the first time, or rather, since the first time she and he gazed into each other’s eyes back at the Inter-Empire Tournament’s first gala.

”Can I ask you a personal question?” she asked, her eyes turning towards him.

Asher stared at her as he wondered what this woman was about to ask, but he simply nodded.

Receiving permission, Arianna asked without holding back.

”Back at the first gala of the Inter-Empire Tournament, the reason why I glanced at you despite all the stares I was receiving at the time is because I noticed your passive cultivation. Although it isn’t fast, not even Crownstar Life Rankers are able to achieve that.” She paused for a moment, then asked, ”I wanted to know how you were able to achieve that.” Her amber-gold eyes meeting Asher’s purple ones.